Katniss meandered the streets, a coin clasped in her frozen hand. She avoided the Hob. Haymitch didn't need liquor, her family didn't need milk or thread. Her breath staining the air, she walked towards the Seam. A starving woman cradled her baby. Her hand was bony, her figure emaciated. Her trembling hand reached out to Katniss, a pleading in her grey eyes.
Katniss felt around in her bag for some katniss roots. She dug them out from under a thermos of water and handed them to the woman who stared at them. "Thank you," she said hoarsely. Katniss could hear sickness in her voice. She pressed the coin firmly into the woman's hand and fled. She fled as if her life depended on it. It was now that she realized it; everyone sat on their doorstep, begging for food or money. Katniss felt a certain numbness inside.